Patriots’ pace leaves Texans playing catch-up

The Texans were not able to disrupt the rhythm of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. (Brett Coomer /Houston Chronicle)

By Jason Mastrodonato

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — It was a glitch that New England kept taking advantage of during Sunday’s 41-28 playoff win over the Texans.

The Patriots, the team that set the record for most first downs (444) in a season, routinely sprinted up to the line of scrimmage at the end of each play and snapped the ball before mouth guards could be reinserted.

“That’s what we worked on,” defensive coordinator Wade Phillips said. “But the hurry-up stuff bothered us. Every once in a while they ran a play — we have to be set and ready to go. We didn’t do that well enough.”

First sign of trouble
The Patriots’ first touchdown, a 1-yard rush by Shane Vereen, came on a hurry-up play when the Texans’ entire line was still shuffling and one player even appeared to be on the wrong side of the line of scrimmage.

“Nobody was set,” linebacker Bradie James said. “That’s what (the Patriots) do.

“That’s very rare for us. We prepared for it. It’s just they set the ball down and ran it. I don’t even think the refs were ready.”

The Patriots ran their offense at such a pace that they couldn’t stall even when they tried, using just 3:59 on a fourth-quarter drive that ended in a field goal. Each of their seven scoring drives took less than four minutes. They averaged just 2:30 per touchdown drive.

“We’ve seen them do it on film,” linebacker Barrett Ruud said. “We knew they could do it. But they do it as well as anybody in the NFL. They have a trigger guy like (Tom Brady) running it, and they have so many versatile players. That’s what makes it hard.”

Mismatch proves costly
Ruud was the target of a matchup nightmare on a fourth-quarter play that came immediately after the Texans turned the ball over on downs at their 33-yard line.

On the first play of the drive, the Patriots pushed Vereen to the far side of the field, and Ruud, 6-2 and 241 pounds, was charged with containing the speedy back in one-on-one coverage.

“I knew that matchup was in my favor,” Vereen said.

Vereen made a double move before springing straight toward the pylon, bursting past Rudd and hauling in a pass for a touchdown.

“That isn’t what you want, obviously,” Phillips said. “But they force you into those situations. They spread everybody out. Somebody has to cover them.”

The Texans didn’t think Sunday’s game was lost because they were too slow on defense. Safety Glover Quin said the Patriots were no faster than most teams.

‘Chaotic out there’
But the Texans were too slow getting back to the line of scrimmage.